New Media Art Preservation
Annotated Bibliography - Preservation of New Media Art
Lauren O’Meara, Mark Temnyk, Stephanie Chapman, Jay Purazzo
Almeida, N. (2012). Dismantling the monolith: post-media art and the culture of instability. Art Documentation, 31(1), 2- 11. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=24&sid=5fe47ec0-1ab3-4c15-80e9-1e574a159916%40sessionmgr110&hid=124&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=lxh&AN=83234553
This article adds to the discussion concerning preservation of post–media art defined here as Variable Media art supported by digital production (such as video) and usually involves the audience. She argues that the focus of discussion has been on the technical over the conceptual and this discussion is an attempt by practitioners to grapple with the “new” modes of art production. Though post media art cannot be separated from their technological interdependence, the author argues that a strictly techno-centric approach to preservation is problematic because digital art is not static or tied to a physical medium the same way in a analog art is. The author's purpose is to analyze Manovich’s Variable Art Media approach and the concepts of the new media repository to illustrate how cogent theory of post media art can provide plausible working framework for preservation. By critically dismantling the traditional definitions and approaches to art, the author concludes that applying principles from the variable media approach and the new repository model a sustainable preservation method can be developed without losing any time or process based aspects of new media art. The article is aimed at information professionals in an effort to summarize the burgeoning concepts and preservation and media art as well as address ongoing challenges and misleading terms. The concepts are explained in-depth and supported with current theorists’ work. The article contributes to the discussion of new media hard to preservation but introducing plausible frameworks work addressing the changing relationship between art, materiality, and audiences. This article critically analysis the basic foundation of preservation of art concluded that the traditional way is no longer relevant. Rather, new methods need to be developed to account for the process-based and interactive characteristics of new media art.
Becker, C., Kolar, G., Küng, J., & Rauber, A. (2007). Preserving interactive multimedia art: A case study in preservation planning. In Asian Digital Libraries. Looking Back 10 Years and Forging New Frontiers (pp. 257-266). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Retrieved from http://www.planets-project.eu/docs/papers/becker_icadl07.pdf
This paper discusses challenges seen in preserving multimedia objects and interactive multimedia art. The focus is on identifying the necessary requirements for the preservation of interactive artworks. The author cites a detailed case study to support successful strategies.
Besser, H. (2007). Collaboration for electronic preservation. Library Trends, 56(1), 216-229. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/journals/library_trends/v056/56.1besser.html
This article discusses collaboration for digital content within and outside of the field. Every information professional that their own focus, but digital media requires professionals to seek help when dealing with the unique issues concerning digital media or when creating digital analogs. The article is not directly related to media, but it does offer a general consensus on the need to for interdisciplinary cooperation when dealing with new kinds of media. The author does not include many technical or practical plans when undertaking collaborative projects, but he does include a case study on collaboration for analog tapes, which have been used in some installation works. It has a place in the historiography as a broad overview of collaboration for preservation.
Bressan, F., & Canazza, S. (2013). A systemic approach to the preservation of audio documents: methodology and software tools. Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2013, doi: 10.1155/2013/489515 Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2514093
This paper discusses methodologies for the preservation of audio documents. There are several open source tools that support the preservation process and suggested operational protocols to follow as guidelines. Minimizing the information loss and unintentional alterations introduced by the technical equipment are all pitfalls to avoid and necessary precautions to be aware of.
Bishop, M. H. (2001). Evolving exemplary pluralism: Steve Mcqueen's deadpan and Eija-Liisa Ahtila's Anne, aki and god—Two case studies for conserving technology-based installation art. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 40(3), 179-191. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3179878
This article is the result of the TechArchaeology: A Symposium on Installation Art Preservation, giving an overview of theory in the early period of a related field. The author uses the works of both authors to illustrates the need for thorough document and study of the purpose when implementing or recreating an installation to provide the full effect of the work. That said, it does noted that it may not be possible to create a carbon copy of the original work due to technological and location constraints, compromise is necessary for access. The author uses two sets of questions posed during the symposium to guide his examination of the work, focusing on the purpose or intent of the work and the steps needed to properly recreate it in the future. It does include some jargon and questionable terms when listing the technological components for Ahtila’s installation, but this could a good example of the need for formal terms as outlined in the Messier article.
Casad, M. (2014). Preservation and access framework for digital art objects. D-Lib Magazine, 20(3/4), 6.
This article announced a partnership between Cornell University Library's Division of Digital Preservation Services and the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art to create preservation practices and preservation metadata frameworks that may be valuable for other archiving institutions and transferrable to other kinds of complex born-digital collections. In 2 years, the project has been able to create a workflow for basic disk imaging, establish baseline preservation practices that encompass physical media, digital content, and accompanying print or visual materials, draft an archival repository architecture commensurable to the complexity of the digital materials, identifying "classes" across the test collection, based on criteria such as software dependencies, operating systems, types of rendering or imaging errors, "significant properties" essential to a user's experience of an artwork, or emulation viability, and canvas a community of media art researchers and archivists in order to learn more about their needs, preferences, and practices.
Chaffee, G. J. (2011). Preserving transience: Ballet and modern dance archives. Libri: International Journal Of Libraries & Information Services, 61(2), 125-130. doi:10.1515/libr.2011.011
This article surveys three dance archives and special collections in Great Britain, Australia, and the United States, to compare how these small entities are preserving and capturing the essence of dance through typical archival activities such as acquisitions, processing, preservation, and providing access while dealing with the same logistical and budgetary limitations that plague archives of more general size and scope. Emphasis is placed on how each archive are attempting to go beyond merely capturing an end result—the performance—and are trying to give their audience an overall picture of the discipline’s essence through the materials they select and safeguard. A primary source for this topic it gives a brief overview of the topic, the issues involved include the aspects of the archives mission and collection development policies that help to shape their collections, lack of funding that affects varying degrees of accessibility due to limited hours, and how to best preserve ephemeral art. Such as preservation and the reasoning behind the preservation of dance related material. The article is a good resource for those beginning to explore this topic and those who require surface level detail related to the preservation of dance ephemera, however those requiring serious research, should look at more detailed surveys of our cars rather than use those articles to help descriptions of their survey results.
de Lusenet, Y. (2002). Preservation of digital heritage. Draft discussion paper prepared for UNESCO, European Commission on Preservation and Access. Retrieved from http://archivi.beniculturali.it/INTRANET/estero/Preservation_Access.pdf
This paper reflects the complex environments and the mass amounts of data storage there is in new media. Preservation of digital heritage requires proactive strategies and cooperative effort by both producers and keepers of information. Technology is part of the challenge and conversely issues of rights and ownership have to be resolved.
Ebert, R. (2010). Video games can never be art. Roger Ebert's Journal. News. Retrieved from http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/04/video_games_can_never_be_art.html
This article debates whether video games can be considered art and should efforts be taken to preserve it. Several examples are given in video format and reflections of past non-digital art used in comparison.
Gagnon, J. & Depocas, A. (2007, April 11). Documentation and conservation of the media arts. Leonardo, 40(2), 145-152. Retrieved from http://www.mitpressjournals.org.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/doi/abs/10.1162/leon.2007.40.2.180#.VFeuQd5noWw
This article explores the question of originally, authorship, documentation and medium as it pertains to the preservation of new media art. With the knowledge that issues of documenting performances (for example: should the documentation of a performance should be treated as the same as the live event?) are growing issue. The author, a researcher of art history, analyzes Marina Abramovic’s November 2005 performance series “Seven Easy Pieces”, an artists’ performance of several 1960 and 70s visual works. The performance strives to recapture the essence of the original performance and re-create the experience. Marina Abramovic uses various repetitions of a scene and adjustments to those repetitions to generate documentation. The work meditates on a single moment in the past. The purpose of the article is to closely analyze the re-performance and how the performance documentation can provide useful insights for and promote critical insights about preservation for time based art. The article emerged from a research program aimed to analyze and propose practical solutions for preserving “new media art.” With that in mind, the audience is information professionals from museum and archival collections. The terminology is general enough for the layperson such as an artist to understand. However the practical concepts and how to implement them may be discipline specific and could be misunderstood. This article is helpful to a researching seeking to the study of new media art as it outlines solutions and uses specific examples.
Gere, C. (2008). New media art and the gallery in the digital age. New Media in the While Cube and Beyond, 13-25.
This reflective essay by Charlie Gere discusses how galleries and museums represent or display digital art such as computer art, new media art, etc. The author emphasizes the challenges that museum and archives must consider when discussing the representation of art galleries and museums of work created by using new technologies. The practical challenges they face include: how to take advantage of the new means of displaying technology-based art, how to compete as a medium for cultural practice in an increasingly media saturated world, and how to engage in new artistic practices made possible by technologies (many with their own challenges of key ration and interpretation). The author argues that the gallery has an important role to play in making new media art visible, despite the challenges. Interactive, process-based work tends to question the very notion of his history, heritage, and time upon which museums and galleries are based. The author reflects on the history of new media art as a way of putting the art into context. The audience for this article is not specific yet relates to the general range of readers. The article was written as a reflection for some of the issues arising out of three months spent on the Tate Arts and Humanities research board. The author looks at the role gallery in a changing age. In the context of new media art discussion, the reflections offer an “insider’s view” to the issues surrounding preservation of new media art. Researchers looking for in-depth scholarly resources should consider that the author only addresses issues at the Tate making the essay location specific and not necessarily relatable to other galleries. Nevertheless, each gallery may face similar challenges.
Gomez, A. D. (2008). Digital art as a case study of the problems associated with the preservation of records in the current technological environment. SCIRE: Representacion y Organizacion Del Conocimiento, 14(2), 65-85. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/docview/57692907?accountid=14925
This article aims to explore the concepts digital preservation and digital continuity. When a digital item cannot be preserved (and there will inevitable be a time when a record can’t be preserved), the next step should be to see if the digital continuity can be preserved. Digital continuity for an item asks if we are not able to preserve an object in its current form, are we able to guarantee, at least, that it will be still usable in some way?
Hodin, J. I. (2009). Can museums collect new media art?: the need for a paradigm shift in museum conservation. Conservation Online. Retrieved October 21, 2014, from http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/emg/library/pdf/hodin/hodin_2009.pdf
This paper details the challenges faced by museums when creating collections for new media art. Due to the “Ephemeral, digital, time-based, live or variable” nature the new media art, preservation or collection become problematic. Museums are the institutional framework by which art has traditionally been defined and validated, meaning it is vital that new media be given adequate representation to further the artform. What progress there has been has involved trying to cram new media with traditional art curation methods or been done by small teams with little funding. Art conservators must learn new skills to adequately work with new media content.
Ippolito, J., Rinehart, R., Lutz, M., & Fitzgerald, S. (2009). Forging the future: new tools for variable media art preservation: Proceedings of the 9th ACM/IEEE-CS joint conference on Digital libraries. New York, NY: ACM. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/citation.cfm?doid=1555400.1555484
This brief poster shows some of the tools developed for handling new media artwork. Compared to several of the other early 2000’s examinations of new media preservation, this article shows the change in the field over the decade. The Media Art Notation System (MANS) is an XML specification used to store Variable Media Questionnaires (VMQ). VMQ’s are used to record the original, previous, and changing ways a work has been implemented and includes opinions on the work, artist, interviewer, and date. The creation of such tools provides a good counterpoint to Langill and Messier, who presented changing the nature of an installation as either sacrosanct or a necessary evil. Like a piece of music, new forms of a work do not diminish it, but add a new interpretation that deserves its own coverage. This article could be useful if compared to a case study that uses MANS.
Jethani, S., & Leorke, D. (2013). Ideology, obsolescence and preservation in digital mapping and locative art. International Communication Gazette, 75(5-6), 484-501. Retrieved from http://gaz.sagepub.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/content/75/5-6/484
This article examines locative art, a form of new media art that uses GPS, mobile devices, and digital networks to present to create new perspectives and interactions with urban spaces. These works are notable among new media for their relative lack of critical examination and challenges for preservation. Many of these works were created using commercial software from Google and Apple and future preservation depends on the legality of use and support of the software. Like many forms of new media, participation is key to implementation of the work and the “audience” can drastically change the outcome. The article could be key in examining this under represented area of new media if we choose to give attention to locative art in the final project.
Kholeif, O. (2012, July-August). Notes toward an "open" conversation on new media art and ending the politics of exile. Afterimage, 40(1), 10+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA297914955&v=2.1&u=lom_waynesu&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=f2d7e56abd58821defe30ebae3063003
This article comments on the “otherness” nature of media and new media art and its detriment to the genre. The author asserts that new media must break away from it’s status as outsider art and join “the broader canon of the visual arts and culture” for its continued survival. The article is aimed at other curators, but the tone is less than academic and at times veers into an irate rant. Still, the author gives an honest look at the culture surrounding new media art.
Langill, C. S. (2009). Self-Emulation: Upgrades in new media art and the potential loss of narrative. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 15(3), 347-358. Retrieved from http://con.sagepub.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/content/15/3/347
This article examines the problems presented by artists who worked with early electronic media that decide to create new versions of their works through an updated media (specifically Helpless Robot by Norman White (1986–2004), Small Artist Pushing Technology (1987–) by Doug Back, and Listening Post (2003–) by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin, which the author had dubbed “self-emulation.” While moving art from an obsolete format make it easier to preserve the work, the view and relationship with technology of the period these works were created is inherently tied to their original media, meaning moving to another format can lead to a “loss of narrative.” Even if the move is part of an artist’s development of the work, the original version of a work carries with it a unique historical record and narrative that is implicitly different from the update. Emulation is presented as another options media migration, but it does not carry over the physicality of hardware. The article is written with curators in mind and while the article contains a thorough list of technical issues, their significance is explained in general terms.
MacDonald, C. (2009). Scoring the work: documenting practice and performance in variable media art. Leonardo, 42(1), 59-63.
This article by information specialist Corina McDonald revisits Suzanne Briet’s vision of documentation as socially constructed, which, she argues, is the foundation for the creation and sharing of information. The author of the article suggests that Briet’s approach lends insight into new techniques for preserving very variable media art, for preserving both the document and documentation of the experience and structure of the work. The author suggests that a model for incorporating content, context, and practice in the re-creation and re-performance of performance art is needed because of the complexity of new media art. Similar to the previous articles the author emphasizes the fluidity and multiple-layer characteristics of new media art and that documentation is a dynamic, constructed identity. While written for a general audience, the article is aimed at curators, cataloguers and indexers. The jargon (such as mixed used of the term “document”) is not explained in terms a general artist would understand, making the article more suited for in-depth research into documentation of new media art for preservation. The author identifies a new paradigm for documenting works. Only two of the many frameworks are explained in-depth to support her paradigm.
Manzella, C., & Watkins, A. (2011). Performance anxiety: Performance art in twenty-first century catalogs and archives. Art Documentation, 30(1), 28-32.
This article by Manzella and Watkins argues that performance art is by nature temporary and through documentation can scholars study, evaluate, interpret and re-imagined the performance. The authors make an argument for how one documents performance art for the purpose of preservation that can still be interactive between the artist and viewers. The authors’ discuss broad issues including past research into this topic, the stakes, and documenting the props left behind from the performance. Their purpose is to provide another layer of connection to the regional performance, for the performance to live on. The article addresses curators and catalogers. However, an informed person such as the artist could comprehend the discipline-specific language with some added background into this topic. The authors’ key point is that once the performance is over, the catalog and archive are keys to let the performance be experienced again even if only in one’s the imagination.
Marchese, F. T.(2011). Conserving digital art for deep time. Leonardo 44(4), 302-308. The MIT Press. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from Project MUSE database.
The article proposes that artists, conservators, and curators approach the creation, curation, and storage of digital art works from a software engineering point of view. It also suggests that we stop treating digital art just like non-digital art, as they have different needs for their long term care and preservation. The process of approaching digital art from a software engineering standpoint will not only help the art and the artists, but also digital art scholarship and accessibility to works.
Messier, P. (2001). Dara Birnbaum's Tiananmen Square: Break-in transmission: A case study in the examination, documentation, and preservation of a video-based Installation. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 40(3), 193-209. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3179879
This paper offers a methodology for examining and judging video based installations through as case study focusing on media degradation, format and hardware obsolescence, and the dangers of improper documentation. The focus of this case, Tiananmen Square: Break-in Transmission, was a five-channel installation made up of numerous recorded segments of the Tiananmen Square event originally recorded on ¾ in. U-matic Videotape, which was then transferred to Betacam SP for editing, and finally laserdisc for usage. The major problem with displaying the work comes from a lack of verifiable “artist’s proof” copies and lack of key technical components that are not longer available. The main technical problems include the the obsolescence of laserdisc and (eventually) CRT monitors, and Acoustic Research loudspeakers. While the problems presented in this article are dated compared to most new media art, it shows the challenges of working with a format on it’s last leg and the required planning for future preservation.
Morris, S. (2001). Museums & new media art. Retrieved from Rockefeller Foundation website: http://www.rockfound.org/Documents/528/Museums_and_New_Media_Art. pdf.
This research report sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and written by Susan Morris, a media consultant, discusses the fundamental questions concerning museums’ role with commissioning and preserving new media art such as whether museums should be involved in its creation and its display in a museum. As museums’ mission is to preserve historical and art collections, new discussions surround whether museums should be involved in new media art’s creation and preservation form the background for this report. The report is based on conversations with curators, museum directors, artists, and new media professionals to help understand the development of new media art in United States. The author’s methodology is to interview the various groups including museum curators, directors or administrators, commissioned artists, new media professionals researchers, centers and museums from across the nations, press releases, magazine articles, to present rounded a discussion. The author summarizes a history of museum collections highlighting the their traditional goals: to collect, preserve and interpret works of art. Following a brief history, the author notes the terminology of new media art the interviewers used during the discussions. These terms are ways museums catalog and organize new media art. This section is followed by a lengthy discussion of the roles each group plays in contributing in new media art. The benefits and complications for including media art in the museum collections are also considered including funding and marketability; audience and reach. This report is aimed at documenting the challenges in museums. However the concepts and level of detail is not too difficult to follow for a general artist. Researchers may find the details from a broad range of institutions valuable for the study of displaying and preserving new media art in museums galleries.
Moser, D. (2013). Understanding the impact of the new aesthetics and new media works on future curatorial resource responsibilities for research collections. Art Documentation, 32(2), 186-201. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.wayne.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lxh&AN=92600694&site=ehost-live&scope=site
This article by the department head of archives at the University of Alaska Fairbanks proposes that the conservation of new media art is dependent on thorough understanding of the means and methods of an artwork’s production, whether it is wall hangings, websites, canvas or steel. Preservation begins with creation of the artwork. As discussed by previous articles, the author notes that art created with new technologies complicates and often disrupts previous models that effectively documented art. The author considers why the “new aesthetic” or Internet based, networked and dematerialized works are disruptions of older our traditions; they exist everywhere and nowhere rather than being geologically based. The author also digs into historical roots of art forms suggesting that art is no longer bound to a physical form; it are networked, shared, reused and repurpose data. The author suggests that descriptive metadata is needed more than ever for art that is less and less text – driven. Preservation through documentation also must take into account the experience, not just the work itself. The author also considers the future impact of the creation and use of complex multimedia cultural collections. Overall, the article uses highly scholarly research to backup the theories. In addition, the audience for the article is broad; any technical aspects of the language are explained fully in the footnotes. For the topic of new media art, the article gives in-depth context and background as well as contributes to the growing conversation.
Nadasky, G. g. (2014). Preserving web-based auction catalogs at the Frick Art Reference Library. D-Lib Magazine, 20(3/4), 12.
This article talks about the Frick Gallery’s collection of online auction catalogs from art houses, one of the gallery’s most widely used resources. They proposed a way to preserve the born-digital auction catalogs in a two step process. The first phase of the project identified the basic risks and determined that Archive-It software was the best means of capturing the stability of born-digital art research resources. The second phase identified criteria to determine preservation priorities and evaluate what has already been captured by the Internet Archive, with the goal of creating a list of websites that can and should be harvested immediately.
New media preservation. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/press-release-archive/2002/666-march-11-new-media-preservation
This article particularly describes Guggenheim Museum’s interest in research and preservation of digital documents and artworks. The variable media paradigm engages the digital artists to best describe their works and to preserve their art in imaginative ways, outwitting the obsolescence that often besets technological art forms. The Guggenheim through the variable media paradigm also asks artists to choose the most appropriate strategy for dealing with inevitable slippage that results from translating to new mediums: storage, emulation, migration, or reinterpretation.
O'Connor, ,D.V. "Exhibitions in cyberspace: Museum exhibition documentation at the millennium." Art Documentation 15.1 (1996): 17-9. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
This article is a compilation of paper presented at the 1994 Art Libraries Society of North America conference. Topics include: the opportunities presented to curators, archivists and librarians by the new electronic technologies to create, document and share exhibitions; the advantages of electronic exhibits and the growing investment in digital materials, but unless curators, archivists and librarians begin factoring preservation costs into their Internet museum sites, databases, and virtual museum budgets now, much of this documentation may vanish before anyone puts it into a permanent form; ways of preserving digital materials highlighting the role of archivists, librarians and curators in preserving museum exhibition documentation for the benefit of posterity; and the value of this commodity in a world hungry for digital information.
Paul, C. (2005). Challenges for a ubiquitous museum: Presenting and preserving new media Retrieved from http://www.mediaarthistory.org/refresh/Programmatic%20key%20texts/pdfs/Paul.pdf
This article by a curator of new media arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art describes the challenges of preserving presenting new media part for museum collections. The author suggests that previous models once used for traditional art (such as painting and sculptures) are no longer effective to capture the dynamic and nonlinear nature of new media art. The author describes in detail the challenges for presenting art in a museum environment which struggles to engage the audience long enough to reveal its contents. New media art is inherently collaborative between curator and artist. The author discusses the challenges of not just preserving the medium, but also the interpersonal interaction between artist and those involved in the creation of the artwork. The author explores various models and frameworks addressing each issue. The language generally applies beyond museum professional to artists, but should be used as beginning research on the topic of new media art. Little emphasis is placed on the bibliographic citations leaving the reader to take the author’s word that past research done on this topic as unsatisfactory. The author stresses the use of digital technologies that make new media art as unstable; and it is this characterizes that has to be considered if the artwork is to be preserved. Like previous authors, this author emphasizes the need for developing new models and criteria for documenting and preserving the process/ experience and taking into account the instability of the work. The author argues that if it is be incorporated into the museum collections the notion of what art is and can be has to be expanded and reconsidered.
Real, W. A. (2001). Toward guidelines for practice in the preservation and documentation of technology-based installation art. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 40(3), 211-231. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3179880
Event-based technologic art requires new guidelines for examination, description and preservation. The article examines the challenges of new media art and the then current methods and theories on installation art. The author focuses on the Installations as Performances, which weights change against authenticity and brings up many of the same points as Langill, such as ongoing modification by the original artist, original versions as historical record or narrative, and obsolescence challenges. The article is clearly aimed at academics and curators and goes to lengths to examine the challenges of the developing field. The jargon is kept to a minimum as the author examines the development of terms and terminology, favoring clear and unambiguous terms to allow for future preservationists to recreate works. This article could be valuable in building the historiography of the topic due to its age and forward thinking examination of the subject matter.
Rhodes, T. (2014). A living, breathing revolution: How libraries can use ‘living archives’ to support, engage, and document social movements. IFLA Journal, 40(1), 5-11.
This article discusses the concept of living archives, which can be anything from digital documentation of the Occupy Wall Street movement, to the digitization of audio-visual materials, or allowing people to share their memories, knowledge, photos and opinions through a virtual space. This article evaluates how librairaes can incorporate living archives into their space and give new life to their brick and mortar establishments, as well as their digital space.
Rinehart, R. (2007). The media art notation system: Documenting and preserving digital/media art. Leonardo. 40 (2), 181-187. MIT Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20206382
This article proposes the creation of a formal metadata framework for properly documenting and tagging digital media art to better support their creation, re-creation, documentation, and preservation in a more effective way.
Rubin, N. (2009). Preserving digital public television: Preparing for the broadcast afterlife. Against the Grain, 21(2), 16-16, 18, 22. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/docview/57744740?accountid=14925
Practices to conserve and protect videotape recordings are well established, and the cost for maintaining and storing physical media are easily calculated. In an age of digital files, however, the requirements for preserving television programs are far different from storing videotape. It is not enough to close a digital file and put it on a virtual shelf. For video in particular, acceptable practices to save and access very large files, manage ever-changing file formats, and maintain rich metadata are just now emerging. Preserving Digital Public Television, a project funded by the National Digital Information and Infrastructure Program of the Library of Congress (NDIIPP), aims to solve some of these difficult problems by designing a model repository for public television. In the process, the project also determined standards for metadata, explored rights issues relating to video archives, analyzed operating costs, and brought a new consciousness about the importance of digital preservation to the public television system.
Schwadron, T. (2006, Mar 29). Preserving work that falls outside the norm. New York Times Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/docview/433302580?accountid=14925
This article discusses strategies and challenges for cataloging and preservation digital art. Digital art has joined with holograms, performance art, conceptual art and other time-based media creations that can be difficult for museums to maintain or lend to other institutions. While critical appreciation of digital-based art may be limited, there are questions being raised beyond the art itself. Systematic approaches have been developed to create models for preservation. Popularity and the larger issues of digital preservation have drawn attention to academic circles. The popularity of electronic media and the Internet have made it easy to publish solutions, but to keep unique found materials preserved is more complicated and must be well thought out.
Šimko, V., Máša, ,., & Giaretta, D. (2009). Long-term digital preservation of a new media performance: "Can we re-perform it in 100 years?". International Preservation News, (47), 32-34. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.wayne.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lxh&AN=57267492&site=ehost-live&scope=site
This article by three authors outlines how visual data such as new media art that relies on evolving technology can be used and understood when systems every day knowledge change. By comparing time-based aspects of performance art, the author suggests a model for designing a system based on how scientists preserve their satellite scans. The article is addressed to artists in the hope that they will be better equipped to preserve their art. However the technical and unexplained jargon including heavy use of unexplained acronyms makes the information muddy for general artists to sift through. Emphasis is on the scientific and technical issues preserving layers of raw data down to the basic building blocks and is narrowly focused on explaining how the system tools – in effect for 10 years – documents layers of the performance for a eventual re-performance. References link to a variety of methods but only a few of the references refer to previous literature and the article does not contribute to the overall discussion. Overall the article serves to offer one discipline a summary of the processes behind preserving performance art. The information does not present groundbreaking methods. In fact, the severely technical lingo may leave even the most informed reader confused. The stated purpose is to aid the artists; however it is only at the last sentence that the reader understands this. The effect is ironic and seems to be a last consideration to the authors.
Strodl, S., Becker, C., Neumayer, R., & Rauber, A. (2007). How to choose a digital preservation strategy: Evaluating a preservation planning procedure. Retrieved from http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~becker/pubs/strodl_choose_JCDL07.pdf
This paper focuses on the different requirements and goals towards digital preservation. An increasing number of institutions throughout the world face legal obligations or business needs to collect and preserve digital objects over time. Today, a range of tools exist today to support the variety of preservation strategies such as migration or emulation. Yet, different preservation requirements across institutions and settings make the decision on which solution to implement very difficult. The article provides an alternative way to make informed and accountable decisions on which solution to implement in order to optimally preserve digital objects for a given purpose. The viability of this approach is shown in several case studies using various settings. One of the examples presented focuses on multimedia art.
Waelder, P. (2010). Preserving the ephemeral. Etc. Montreal , Sept.(91), 46. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA240587571&v=2.1&u=lom_waynesu&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w
This short article gives an overview of the literature on new media art preservation. Several authors note the trend in the genre of focusing on novelty and advancing technology, which prevents new media from developmenting continuity and a sense of its own aesthetics.This is similar to Langill’s concept of narrative in art, which is lost as obsolescence takes hold and makes it harder to record the unique relationship the work had with the technology of the time. Another trend is the discourse on maintaining the original state of new media art compared to encouraging new variations of an existing work(either purposely or in practice by logistical challenges). It end with pointing to the public as a the key for future proliferation and preservation of new media. The article is valuable as a snapshot of the current theory of new media art and contrasts well with the older examinations done by Messier and Morris.
Winget, M. (2005). Digital preservation of new media art through exploration of established symbolic representation systems. JCDL Inaugural Doctoral Consortium, Denver, CO. Retrieved from http://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/123456789/23
In this research paper the author discusses digital preservation of new media art. This paper is divided into three sections: The first places technical digital preservation approaches within the context of artistic concerns; The second places digital variable media art within the context of other, more traditional variable art forms; and the third section describes the authors project and methodology in an attempt to define the characteristics of an existing art form (namely, music) through the exploration of users’ annotations; and from that data, make some conjectures regarding the important elements of a new media art object.
Winget, M. (2011). Videogame preservation and massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(10), 1869–1883. doi: 10.1002/asi.21530
This article discusses videogames as important cultural and economic artifacts. They also present challenges that anticipate the problems inherent in any complex digital interactive system. Not only are they digital and hence very difficult to preserve, but they also are software systems that have significant hardware, peripheral, and network dependencies, which are difficult to collect and formally represent. This article reviews the literature related to video game preservation. In addition to covering the traditional technology-related issues inherent in all digital preservation endeavors, this review also attempts to describe the complexities and relationships between the traditional acts of technology preservation, representation, and collection development.
Wolf, R. (2013). Keeping new media new: Conserving high-tech art. Retrieved from http://www.artnews.com/2013/10/23/keeping-new-media-new/
This article discusses how conservators are rushing to keep pace with technology as they find ways to extend the working lives of art made with code, VHS tapes, and other rapidly changing platforms. Archives, libraries, government agencies, and universities are all grappling with the same problem to preserve new media art. The changing trend is to encourage living artists to participate in recommending ways to preserve their unique art forms.
